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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Alejandro Bedoya Nantes (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

U.S. Men’s National Teams fans’ bragging rights over their Mexican counterparts just keep getting better and better.

On the same week that the U.S. saved Mexico from World Cup qualification elimination by rallying to beat Panama, Alejandro Bedoya scored his first goal for FC Nantes by taking advantage of an awful mistake by Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and cooly slotting a shot home. Bedoya’s 87th-minute strike came six minutes after the U.S. midfielder came off the bench and it served as a late winner for Nantes in a 1-0 victory over AC Ajaccio on Saturday.

Aron Johannsson did not score on a Mexican, but he enjoyed quite a performance as well. Johannsson, who opened his U.S. scoring account with the winner against Panama this past Tuesday, continued his fine form by scoring twice (the second was a beauty) and assisting on another goal in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 triumph over Cambuur Leeuwarden on Sunday. Johannsson now has seven goals in league play this season and 12 across all competitions.

Terrence Boyd also found the back of the net. Boyd completed Rapid Vienna’s comeback in a 2-2 draw with SK Sturm Graz on Sunday as he converted the slumping Green-Whites’ second second-half penalty kick in the 64th minute. The goal raises Boyd’s scoring total to six in the Austrian Bundesliga and seven in all competitions this season.

Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

  • Tim Howard started and played 90 minutes in Everton’s 2-1 win vs. Hull City on Saturday.
  • Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played eight minutes in Sunderland’s 4-0 loss vs. Swansea City on Saturday.
  • Geoff Cameron did not dress in Stoke City’s 0-0 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
  • Maurice Edu did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Brek Shea did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Aston Villa’s 2-0 loss vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
  • Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 win vs. Aston Villa on Sunday.

Championship

  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City’s 4-0 loss vs. Leeds United on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
  • Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 1-1 draw vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Zak Whitbread started and played 33 minutes in Derby County’s 3-2 win vs. Watford on Saturday.
  • Eric Lichaj did not dress in Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw vs. AFC Bournemouth on Saturday. He was suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
  • Danny Williams did not dress in Reading’s 4-1 win vs. Doncaster Rovers on Saturday. He is recovering from a foot injury.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley dressed but did not play in AS Roma’s 2-0 win vs. Napoli on Friday.

GERMANY

Bundesliga

  • Fabian Johnson did not dress in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s 2-1 loss vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Friday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
  • Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
  • Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg’s 1-1 draw vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
  • Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Augsburg’s 2-1 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday.
  • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04’s 3-2 win vs. TSV Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday.
  • Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96′s 1-0 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
  • John Brooks did not dress in Hertha Berlin’s 1-0 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday. He is recovering from an elbow injury.

2. Bundesliga

  • Alfredo Morales came off the bench, played 28 minutes and received a yellow card in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 2-1 loss vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.
  • Andrew Wooten did not dress in Kaiserslautern’s 2-2 draw vs. Karlsruhe on Sunday.
  • Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play FC Cologne on Monday.

FRANCE

  • Alejandro Bedoya came off the bench, played nine minutes and scored a GOAL in FC Nantes’ 1-0 win vs. AC Ajaccio on Saturday.

NETHERLANDS

  • Aron Johannsson started, played 90 minutes before being substituted in stoppage time, scored TWO GOALS, had an ASSIST and received a yellow card in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 win vs. Cambuur Leeuwarden on Sunday.




RUSSIA

  • Eugene Starikov did not dress in FK Tom’ Tomsk’s 4-0 loss vs. Krasnodar on Saturday.

BELGIUM

  • Sacha Kljestan dressed but did not play in RSC Anderlecht’s 2-0 win vs. Mons on Friday.

DENMARK

  • Conor O’Brien and Odense BK play SonderjyskE on Monday.
  • Babajide Ogunbiyi started and played 90 minutes in Viborg FF’s 0-0 draw vs. Brondby IF on Sunday.
  • Mike Grella dressed but did not play for Viborg FF.

AUSTRIA

  • Terrence Boyd came off the bench, played 45 minutes and scored a GOAL in Rapid Vienna’s 2-2 draw vs. SK Sturm Graz on Sunday.

SWEDEN

  • Brian Span and Djurgarden IF play Kalmar FF on Monday.

NORWAY

  • Mix Diskerud came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Rosenborg BK’s 1-0 win vs. IK Start on Saturday.
  • Josh Gatt did not dress in Molde FK’s 1-0 win vs. Honefoss BK on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Ethan Horvath dressed but did not play for Molde FK.
  • Ben Spencer did not dress for Molde FK .
  • Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK’s 1-0 loss vs. Molde FK on Sunday.

MEXICO

  • Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in Puebla’s 2-0 win vs. Atlas on Sunday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley did not dress for Puebla. He is recovering from an injury.
  • Jose Torres did not dress in Tigres UANL’s 3-1 win vs. Atlante on Saturday. He was suspended for the red card he received in the last game.
  • Jonathan Bornstein did not dress for Tigres UANL.
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 0-0 draw vs. Toluca on Sunday.
  • Paul Arriola started and played 68 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played 22 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Greg Garza came off the bench and played nine minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Joe Corona dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
  • Joaquin Alonso Hernandez did not dress in Monterrey’s 3-2 loss vs. Santos Laguna on Friday.

BRAZIL

  • Freddy Adu did not play in Bahia’s 3-0 win vs. Galicia in Copa Governador on Saturday.

—–

What do you think of these performances? Does Bedoya’s game-winning goal for Nantes cap off a perfect week for you? How good do you think Johannsson can be?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Question: 4 highlight videos in Americans Abroad. 3 are Bacon highlights. In general, would you prefer to see highlights from four Americans Abroad contributing in key plays, or one guy absolutely shredding it up? I’m undecided…

    Reply
    • ps- I’m postulating about performances of our boys, not coverage. Thanks SBI for putting together very good summaries in this feature each week. It’s one of my favorite recurring articles.

      Reply
  2. Sorry to sound like a Debbie Downer, but I was disappointed to see so many players with Did Not Dress after their names. Hope guys like Corona and Parkhurst can go somewhere they can get playing time.

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  3. Would it be possible to add what position or positions a player played in? For most of the big names its pretty obvious but some people get played out of position sometimes and once you get outside the big 4 leagues I don’t watch or read about any of these teams and so don’t know where these guys play unless they’ve been called into the national team.

    Reply
  4. That AJ goal looks exactly like what he tried to do in Panama. He almost pulled it off in that game. That looks like a move that he does rather frequently. Sweet goal.

    Nice on the lads who played this week and congrats to the guys who scored. Keep up the good work. JK is watching.

    Reply
  5. You miss the story of the week?

    Wil Packwood also played today after his grotesque injury. He was loaned out to a fellow Championship team and not only went 90, but earned MOTM honors too.

    He has a month to impress Klinsi before our Euro camp.

    Also: enough with the Mexico jabs. Makes us look obsessed.

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    • Great that he is back and getting time but Bristol Rovers is in League Two. He is just 20 so lets give him some time and see what happens. No need to beat the drum for a World Cup spot.

      Reply
    • …considering just about every Mexican fan spent the last three years taking every opportunity to use forums like this to beat their chests and declare they are the dominant nation in CONCACAF while simultaneously insulting our team and country I think it’s only fair we return the favor. It’s a two way street.

      Reply
      • I understand the impulse, but… you are right, it is a two way street. Recall how classless and douchie some of those fans come across? A jab is one thing and a part of sports, but there is a point it becomes no different than a cyber pi$$-bomb…. makes no matter what colors you are flying, it ain’t cool. Like I said in an earlier post, hopefully we are ready to elevate our ambitions/expectations, move on and start thinking bigger than CONCACAF and regional rivalries. That song is played out.

      • So there’s hope for Jemal Johnson and John-Paul Pittman yet (circa 2008)!

  6. Aron Jóhannsson needs to start over Clint Dempsey. Even when Clint Dempsey is 100% he’s still well behind my boy Aron in skills, work-rate, offensive and defensive contributions. I’m glad you people are finally starting to recognize this. Also, he’s not a bad looking fellow.

    Reply
    • Dempsey at 100% has 57 Premier League goals. Aron is showing well but don’t really know if those skills will transfer at a higher level. Either way we’re going to need them both on top of there game and then some next summer.

      Reply
      • Dempsey isn’t though. If he doesn’t stat scoring he’s going to be replaced either in the upcoming months or in the midst of the WC inevitably

      • Dempsey is not the same player he was back then. Often injured and out of form, he has no position at all right now. I think he’s a player we can rely on in stretches but he’s only in my best 11 because I think he’s versatile enough to play behind the forwards like he did at Fulham.

        Jozy and AJ are the two best forwards in the US pool. That’s just a fact.

    • Johannsson has played 2 games for the national team and has one goal. He is very promising, but he plays in the Dutch League. Maybe he will be a star in 2018, but experience counts when it comes to the World Cup. Dempsey has played in two WC’s, is the second leading US national team scorer of all time, has the most Premier League goals of any US player in history and has been injured lately. If you saw Seattle’s game this weekend, you would know that Dempsey is almost back in form. He made one p@ss on the move that was beautiful, made a good through pass to Neagle that he should have scored on and made a move on a defender that was positively Brazilian. He was a little off on his headers which used to be one of his strongest points, but he is close to being a top player again. Fanboys have no perspective.

      Reply
      • “plays in the Dutch League” just is not a legitimate criticism of the guy. You can say that his first goal yesterday was an “Eredivisie goal”, sure – no idea what the defender was doing. But the second? Come on. Doesn’t matter what league a guy plays in. To have the skills to do that, to finish like that – that’s class beyond anyone else in the pool right now.

    • Actually, it should be Landon Donovan starting over Dempsey. With Jozy up top. Dempsey will make a great super sub though. He is not the same player he was at Fulham, but I hope he can turn it around. The way he plays, he has put a lot of wear on his body, and will not be the type of player to go 90 minutes week in and week out.

      I actually think Aron should be competing with Jozy for a spot, and it’s possible he can take that starting spot, if Jozy’s form drops and his Sunderland adventure continues to get worse.

      Reply
  7. Interesting little factoid: Out of the top 4 goal scorers in Dutch Eredevisie, 3 are Icelandic:

    1. Alfred Finnbogason
    2 Kolbeinn Sigthorsson
    3. Aron Johansson

    Crazy Stuff!

    Reply
  8. great comments from Nantes’ coach on Bedoya:

    “He’s settled in very well,” Der Zakarian said. “He is technically excellent and is also prepared to work for the good of the team. His movement is always intelligent and he makes the right decisions.”

    “At the moment he’s competing for the central role with Jordan Veretout,” Der Zakarian said. He’s also good on the right, which is where he plays for his country.”

    Reply
  9. I get a little gamesmanship, but enough already… we ain’t done squat. I really hope we can keep our head on straight and our own house in order rather than worrying about our neighbor’s. Any thread connecting any of this to Mexico is spider-web thin. Perhaps if we have loftier international rather than regional aspirations larger than being the King of CONCACAF it would be best to stop obsessing on our southern rival. Klinsman seems to get this, I think/hope the players do. Getting the US fan-base to refocus may take a while as old habits die hard. One of the things that has gotten Mexico in the place they are is arrogance and self satisfaction resulting from dominating North America and a few beat downs of the US.

    Reply
    • agreed. i’ve been on threads today with US fans trolling Mexico fans for their 6-1 U-17 World Cup loss to Nigeria. i understand they’re just dishing it back after all the S talking Mexican fans did, but lets keep focused. luckily our players aren’t arrogant.

      Reply
    • agreed. i’ve been on threads today with US fans tr0lling Mexico fans for their 6-1 U-17 World Cup loss to Nigeria. i understand they’re just dishing it back after all the S talking Mexican fans did, but lets keep focused. luckily our players aren’t arrogant.

      Reply
  10. So great to see the guys doing well specially Aron and Bedoya! Aron just keeps on scoring goals in every game he plays and Bedoya scoring on the Mexican goalkeeper… is it just a coincidence or was this the worst week Mexico ever had? What I think might be a concern are the guys at Stoke City who are not getting any playing time at all! I mean all 3 like seriously are they that bad?? Its good for Shea to be going someplace else for a while but I think Klinsmann relies on Cameron too so just putting that out there…oh and Jozy has got to get more playing time too because his game is going to get bad if he just sits out every game. And I hope Bradley gets playing time too because we need him to get fit by next year

    Reply
  11. Have you noticed that’s one of Aaron’s go-to-moves? He fakes going left, the defender bites, and then Aaron goes right to make space. I wonder how long until defenders stop falling for that move (btw, personally it’s a great move)

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    • Yeah I think the last time he got the player to go to the right then scored with his left though. I was hesitant to jump on the Johannson band wagon just cause we just build so many players up. However some of the skill and control he has is just so impressive. I also love how much power he can get with such a quick shot.

      Reply
    • New manager, Steven Fletcher just coming back from injury and he’s worked with Poyet for two full weeks while Jozy just got back from international duty. Could be problems as it looks like Poyet wants to run one forward and Fletcher is his main option, but he hasn’t put anything close to a dominating performance in yet, so I’d say the striker race is wide open still at Sunderland. Poor situation though. Really didn’t expect Sunderland to be this bad, even if it’s not even a third of the way through the season.

      Reply
      • There is no cause for concern. In the previous week Jozy had flown thousands and thousands of miles and played two WC Qualifiers. Expecting him to start yesterday would have been crazy. And while he has struggled, the entire team has been bad, Fletcher included. Jozy has actually been one of the two or three best players for Sunderland this year; not saying much, but I don’t think he’s in any danger of being benched.

      • Didn’t Iceman just do that?… travel thousands and thousands of miles and played a full game today? True, not all situations are the same, I think it has more to do with a new coach trying new things on a losing team.

      • All the other Americans Abroad listed above that were on the WCQ squad played though, so I don’t think that can be the only reason, though I agree that it probably plays a part.

      • Aron does not have an established Premier League striker as competition. So expecting Jozy to start because ArJo did is apples to oranges.

      • Well, no actually. Cameron didn’t even dress. I don’t recall that he got injured and he had started all of Stoke’s prior games. Jozy, who had been starting only got the last 8 minutes. Of course, with a new coach it is hard to tell if this is related to travel and WCQs or new policy.

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